At age 38, I took a 75% pay cut to leave the legal profession and pursue a career in technology.

• Zubin Pratap, a former lawyer, decided to move into the technology industry at the age of 38.
• He landed his first technology job by networking and shortlisting the best employers.
• He used to work at Google, but said his big opportunity came from a small startup that took risks.

This essay is based on a conversation with Zubin Pratap, a software engineer based in Melbourne. Edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has confirmed his employment history.

I entered law school in the late 1990s.

By the time I graduated in 2003, the dot-com boom had happened, the dot-com bust had happened, Google had been invented, and the Internet had become mainstream.

Seven years into my career, I moved from litigation to corporate law, from India to Australia, and developed an interest in technology.

I realized that I was sitting far from the sidelines of the tech industry and had no way to break into it. I was doing well in my career as a lawyer, but it didn’t align with who I was as a person. I was more interested. Creating things rather than calculating risks or reviewing contracts.

Over the next few years, I tried different things. While working full-time, he worked on two startup endeavors and then switched to a business role within the company. I quit my job straight away to start a tech startup, but it cost six figures and ultimately didn’t work out.

I decided to restart my career, this time in the technology industry. I was 38 years old.

put one’s foot in the door

I had learned enough about software to run a small business, but convincing someone to let me work for them was a whole different story.

Given the competitive nature of the industry and my non-computer science background, I knew I would have to work hard to differentiate myself.

This is the 4-step plan I used to land my first software job.

1. Spend time with people in the industry:

   I stopped networking on LinkedIn. I would meet people for coffee and hang out at conferences and other places where developers and engineers gathered. The idea was to start learning how the industry works. Instead of asking questions about skills they need to learn and getting cookie-cutter answers, I asked people what they do every day. That gave me the biggest advantage – being able to talk to engineers in their language.

2. Identify employers who need people like me:

   I focused on companies with low applicant pools and high turnover rates: small, high-pressure companies, and companies that don’t pay as high as big tech companies.

3. Skip LinkedIn’s “Easy Apply” feature.

   Even after discovering that a small web development agency fit the bill, we still had to convince them to take a chance. I showed up at their office and asked if they were hiring developers. Talking to people in person or on the phone gave me the opportunity to accept how “crazy” it is that I am his 38 year old ex-lawyer changing jobs and taking so many risks to work for them. I got it.

4. Build connections with recruiters.

   I’ve found that most people are nice to recruiters until they get what they need. After making contact, I tried to stay in touch with the recruiter. I would message them from time to time, pick up the phone to update them, or suggest good candidates I came across while networking.

   As a result of my efforts, I received four job offers and ended up accepting one at a small software development company in Melbourne, where I was based. I took his 75% cut from my last salary as a lawyer and started as a junior developer.

   4 rejections before getting an offer from Google

   After a year and a half, I moved to a software engineering role at Google. I also applied some of the same strategies. That meant talking to a lot of people and getting industry insights. Google has rejected me 4 times so far, 3 times as a lawyer and once as a product manager. These industries were the ones I had the most experience with. Getting the offer on the fifth time felt like a combination of hard work and luck.

   I left Google after nearly two years to work for a smaller company where I thought I could have a bigger impact.

   My compensation recovered after leaving the Department of Justice and is now higher than my last salary before my tech job.

   Looking back, I know everyone talks about Google as a part of my life, but my big turning point was a small company that hired me with no experience. .

   Did you take a significant pay cut during your career and have a story to share? Email sgoel@businessinsider.com.